Thread by @techreview

🧵 A few lonely academics have been warning for years that solar power faces a fundamental challenge that could halt the industry’s breakneck growth. Simply put: the more solar you add to the grid, the less valuable it becomes.
technologyreview.com/2021/07/14/102…

The problem is that solar panels generate lots of electricity in the middle of sunny days, frequently more than what’s required, driving down prices—sometimes even into negative territory.

Unlike a natural gas plant, solar plant operators can’t easily throttle electricity up and down as needed, or space generation out through the day, night and dark winter. It’s available when it’s available, which is when the sun is shining.

A new report from @TheBTI finds that California, which produces one of the largest shares of solar power in the world, is already acutely experiencing this phenomenon, known as solar value deflation.

Lower prices may sound great for consumers. But it presents troubling implications for the world’s hopes of rapidly expanding solar capacity and meeting climate goals.

“California is a little sneak peak of what is in store for the rest of the world as we dramatically scale up solar,” says @hausfath, director of climate and energy at @TheBTI, and author of the report.

READ the full story by @jtemple to learn more about how plummeting solar prices put climate goals at risk.
technologyreview.com/2021/07/14/102…

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